Robber - stealer - thief - burglar

Robber - stealer - thief - burglar
 

Which are the differences in the use of:

Formal differences more than nothing, if they are slang or a costume usage please remark it.

Thanks.

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They are fairly synonymous, but there are slight differences. Associated verbs in parenthesis.

robber — someone who steals by force, violence, or threat (to rob, to commit robbery)
thief — someone who steals secretly or stealthily (to commit theft)
stealer — someone who takes something that does not belong to them or that they don't have a right to take (to steal)
purloiner — someone who takes something wrongfully (to purloin)
pilferer — someone who steals secretly/stealthily in small amounts over time (to pilfer)
larcenist — (this is more of a legal term) someone who takes something unlawfully with the intention of depriving its rightful owner of it permanently (to commit larceny). There is also "grand larceny" which has a specific legal meaning.
shoplifter — someone who steals products on display in a store (to shoplift)
burglar — someone who enters a house/building at night without permission with the intent to commit a crime (to burgle, to commit burglary)

There are also other verbs that are synonymous with "to steal"— to lift, to borrow, to jack, to swipe, to nick.

These last examples are slang, aren't they?

The verbs at the very end? Yes.

Just checking... :)

Thanks! now I understand.
And burglar? as synonym of stealer is right?

I was editing post #3 while Chileno was responding to it, and I added burglar there. :)

Another one: a mugger: someone who steals by threatening or performing violence.

It's also important to notice the difference between to rob and to steal (often confused by Spanish-speaking people)
I was robbed
My purse was stolen

The bank was robbed
A lot of money was stolen

And one more I've just remembered: pickpocket (carterista in Spanish)

:eek: No puedo creer que "stealer" es una palabra en EEUUense. No está en mi diccionario Oxford ni en el Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictionary, que suele ser una fuente maravillosa para diferencias entre RUense y EEUUense.

You've made me soooo happy! I was worried because I had never heard it before.:shh:

I never heard of stealer either. Instead use robber or thief.
PS: I we forgot the word filch (to commit petty theft)
rip off
swipe
make a five finger discount
make off (as in Madoff--truth is stranger than fiction)
to pocket
to walk off with
there's more

And one way to explain it is this:

I was robbed = someone took something from me

I was stolen = Someone took me away. :)

Excellent, now I can start working :wicked:
Thanks to all. ("Gracias a todos", ¿es la mejor forma de decir esta?

"Thanks to everybody" estaría bien también.

Thanks, that sounds better.

Las dos se ocupan. :-)

I'll add my two cents - I've never heard "stealer" before, either! :)

By the way, now that I'm thinking about this topic ... how about a similar run-down of robber-related vocabulary in Spanish? Thanks!

ladrón
ratero
caco